US defends cluster bomb transfers

The United States defended its supplies of cluster munitions Sunday, pointing to restrictions on the transfers, after Human Rights Watch said the bombs had been used by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. HRW said it had gathered photographs, video and other evidence indicating that cluster munitions had been used in coalition air strikes against the Huthi rebel stronghold of Saada province in Yemen’s northern mountains in recent weeks. “We take all accounts of civilian deaths due to the ongoing hostilities in Yemen very seriously,” a US Defense Department official told AFP. The official said Washington was “looking carefully” into the HRW report’s claims.